How long must plan sponsors maintain records? The easy answer is: “For a long time.” The more nuanced answer is: “It depends.”

The elation of acquiring a company can end abruptly when you realize your company will never get a chance to recognize a significant portion of the acquired company’s pre-acquisition deferred revenue.

The increase in available software options has led software companies to look for ways to differentiate themselves from their competition. An increasingly popular way to do this is to obtain a System and Organization Controls (SOC) report which addresses the internal control environment of the software companies to help ensure the application’s stability and security.

SSAE 16 refers to Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16. The SSAE 16 replaced the audit requirements under SAS 70 (Statement of Auditing Standards No. 70)

Service organizations may also obtain audits of specific defined control criteria that meet customer requirements beyond that of a SOC 1 report.

There are common management issues in employee benefit plans. Having the appropriate user controls in place will assure to plan management that policies and procedures are being followed.

System and Organization Controls (SOC) reports are necessary whether you are a SaaS provider or a business customer of that SaaS provider. We explain why.

Before you can perform functional expense reporting, you should have a written policy in place addressing cost allocation. The policy should be reviewed at least annually and revisions made as necessary.

Plan administrators have a fiduciary duty to ensure that a qualified institution has certified both the accuracy and the completeness of investment information.

The FBAR filing deadline is Tuesday, April 18, 2017. If you are required to file an FBAR, it must be done on or before the April 18 deadline and must be filed electronically through the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) E-Filing System.

SOC 1 reports will look nearly identical under SSAE 18 as they did under SSAE 16, and changes to the reports will be minor, so there is not much that service organizations will have to change, especially Holtzman Partners clients. However, the shift to SSAE 18 does result in 5 main changes.

The new accounting guidance on nonprofit financial reporting applies to fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2017 (calendar 2018 for calendar-year organizations); however, early adoption is permitted. So now is a good time to think through the impact the new accounting standards will have on your financial statements.

In most cases, participants’ immediate and heavy financial need must be established based on “all relevant facts and circumstances” before they are eligible to request a hardship distribution. Yet, the IRS has established safe harbor rules that automatically consider an employee to have such a need if the distribution is used to cover a few specific expenses.

Read more to learn when these ASUs take effect and how they may impact your business.

Just as with hardship distributions, it’s up to plan administrators to ensure that participant loans are in full compliance with IRS and DOL regulations, and that the loan process is thoroughly documented.

As we approach the end of 2016, companies should consider exploring opportunities to help minimize their 2016 tax bills and plan ahead for 2017. Our summary touches on topics that should have the most impact on the business community.

Managing participant hardship distributions has always required vigilance. The rules are complex, and it’s easy to step off the straight and narrow.

Holtzman Partners hosted clients at the Alamo Drafthouse for our fourth annual client CPE event. The complete slide presentation is now available for download.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams are a real threat and criminals are increasingly targeting small and medium-sized businesses, in addition to historical targets such as large companies and financial institutions. Victim companies have been reported in all 50 states and 79 other countries.

Before this new standard, there was minimal guidance in U.S. GAAP specific to going concern and the requirement to perform a going concern evaluation existed only in auditing standards.